Mayor in Twitter parody flap says his “freedom of speech” at stake

Peoria mayor: "I still maintain my right to protect my identity."

The Illinois city mayor whose complaints led to a police raid to unveil who was behind a Twitter account impersonating him now says his "freedom of speech" was at issue.

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, unhappy over the parody @peoriamayor Twitter handle that was falsely portraying him as a drug abuser who lost his "crackpipe," complained to police, who then stormed a local residence last week to find the tweeting culprit.

"I still maintain my right to protect my identity is my right," Ardis told the JournalStar ahead of a City Council meeting Tuesday.

"Are there no boundaries on what you can say, when you can say it, who you can say it to?" Ardis asked. "You can't say [those tweets] on behalf of me. That's my problem. This guy took away my freedom of speech."

Last week's raid netted one arrest on unrelated drug charges. The operator of the account, found via warrants to Twitter and Comcast, has not been charged under an Illinois law that carries a maximum one-year jail term and $2,500 fine for impersonating a public official.

During an hours-long Tuesday council meeting, councilwoman Beth Akeson said Peoria was "the butt of jokes" and that "we lost our credibility."

"If somebody does a parody account using my name," the councilwoman said, "are we going to investigate them for drug use?"

David Kravets
The senior editor for Ars Technica. Founder of TYDN fake news site. Technologist. Political scientist. Humorist. Dad of two boys. Been doing journalism for so long I remember manual typewriters with real paper. Emaildavid.kravets@arstechnica.com//Twitter@dmkravets